Till Worlds Do Us Part

I took out one of my earphone from my ear as I saw the airhostess walking towards my seat down the aisle. She kept pausing at a few seats as some passengers were whispering their requests at the side of her face. She was friendly and kept smiling and nodding at the passengers.

When she got closer to me I raised my hand slightly to get her attention and she caught it.

She smiled down at me. "Yes ma'am?"

"Uh, can I get a bottle of water, it's getting kind of hot up in here." I told her, feeling compelled to return her smile.

"That just means we are close." She said keeping that warm smile. "Sure, it's coming right up."

"Thank you." I said returning my earphone back in my ear.

She nodded and walked perfectly on. I looked at the passangers seated across the aisle from me. It was a young blonde woman sitting by the window and a brunette man next to her. He was holding her hand and she was saying something about her bright fingernails.

I pressed the volume button on my IPhone 11 and turned the music right up. I looked down at the novel on my lap, in bold cursive letters, the title read Adapt Teacher. Although I had read this book twice already, I still felt unprepared. I was excited but I still felt a little anxious.

This heat was getting worse. I couldn't bare it anymore. I had paid for first-class, it wouldn't kill them to keep the air conditioner on. I looked around and everyone else were fanning themselves with whatever they had in their hands, if not nothing. Back in Duran it was mostly cold, on rare days the sun shone. Maybe I'm just being a little extra since I barely get any sunshine back home. But everyone on this plane was feeling it too, going crazy with the fanning. They are not all from Duran...

I took the novel on my lap and began fanning myself. The heat seemed to be getting worse every minute. I started to sweat. Coming from a country where the temperature was almost never higher than -32 degrees celcius, sweating was like a miracle.

A baby started wailing, children started complaining to their mothers and everyone began looking around at the other passengers just to feel reassured that they were not the only ones feeling this heat so intensely.

Even the airhostesses kept pulling down at their bowties often and looking at each other trying not to make it obvious. Some of them even had trails of sweat running down their made-up faces.

The airhostesses were now up and down the aisles with water bottles. The practiced-walks they had before were dumped and replaced by scurrying this way and that. There was a big change in the atmosphere.

Just then, the intercom beeped on. An airhostess handed me a bottle of water and scurried away to attend to the other passengers.

"Attention all passengers, this is your pilot Gordon speaking." A sturdy voice broke out of the intercom.

I opened the 500ml bottle of water clumsily and gulped down the whole bottle in seconds. I was not satisfied. I wanted more. My mouth was dry. I was feeling suffocated. It was uncomfortable.

"We have a technical emergency. The engine is burning up resulting to all the heat and fume from the engine entering the plane. We won't be able to land safely. Please say your prayers. Some may die of suffocation and some may survive the suffocation but die at landing. We are about to crash." The pilot said. His voice was sturdy, he did not sound like someone that knew he was possibly going to die at any moment.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing but nothing beat what I was feeling. I suddenly smelled burn. There was no more air. I couldn't breathe. My lungs were giving up on me. It was painful.

People were screaming and wailing and crying and sucking for air.

I started gasping for air. There wasn't any more. It felt like I was in a nightmare I couldn't get out of. The airplane started to shake and rattle. I gripped the armrests as tight as I could. A gas mask bounced down in front of me, I snatched it and put it to my face. It helped a bit. I felt a little bit of air tickle my lungs. But it wasn't enough.

The shaking of the airplane got worse. Someone got ripped from their seat and flew to the back of the plane. Things started tearing and ripping from the plane and flying around. The stranger woman in the seat next to me who could have been the same age as my mom held my hand, and I held back even tighter. We both knew what was coming. I knew what was coming very well. Even my day, I never imagined it would be like this. I was hoping my day would be painless and without me even knowing it, like in my sleep or something. But this, this was horrible. I wanted it to end. I was terrified. The gas mask I was gripping on to my face with my other hand flew out of my hand.

"No!" I screamed, or thought I did. I didn't hear my own voice. It seemed muffled under the screams of everyone else.

I looked over at the couple on the opposite side of the aisle, the mans forehead was covered in blood and the woman who was most probably his girlfriend was screaming for help but no one came to their rescue.

This was a nightmare.

I shut my eyes as tight as I could and began to pray.

My seat started to shake. Before I could think of it I went flying to the back of the plane. As I was in the air, I saw that there was no back of the plane, it was open, there was sky, I was going to fall to my death...

The first thing I remember is laying on that bed with my arms flat against my sides and how difficult it felt trying to open my eyes. I felt as if I needed help opening my eyes. And when I did open them, it required energy to open them up again after each blink.

What I saw was blur. Silhouettes of people gathered around me. I didn't see their faces clearly but I could sense that they were agitated, turning to their sides and looking at one another from time to time.

Someone bent towards me and put something cold on my forehead. After blinking this time when I opened my eyes, I could see clearly. I saw the face of the person that put that cold thing on my forehead. It was a woman. A grown woman. She was very dark in color. She had black long hair that fell over me. I noticed that she had two bands around her upper arm. The material looked like cheater skin.

The woman was looking down at me. She smiled warmly for a few seconds and then her face crumbled into tears. She wiped them quickly and then she touched my cheek. With her palm still resting on my cheek, she looked back at the other people. I lifted my head slightly to look at them too. They stared back curiously.

I heard her say something to them but I didn't understand her words. They all rejoiced and began dancing around. I frowned at their sudden excitement. What were they so happy about?

At that moment a man from the group stepped closer. He had his hands crossed over his chest and didn't seem to be as happy as the rest of the group. He looked superior, compared to the others. He wore a thin band around his forehead with feathers poking out from it, almost looking like a crown. The band was cheater skin too. He looked at me for a while and then turned to address the mob in a very deep and firm voice. They all nodded and I followed them with my eyes as they disappeared behind a curtain one after another. A strong light glared at me behind that curtain each time the people drew away the curtain to leave.

The woman who had been smiling at me didn't leave. She stayed by my side still smiling down at me. She directed her words at me but was not looking at me. I heard footsteps recede. I hadn't even noticed that there was still someone else here. The person had been standing by my bedside all along and I hadn't even noticed. I tried to see who it was but I only caught a glimpse of the person walking away and disappearing behind the curtain too. The person also had long black bushy hair falling down her back.

The man looked at the woman and said something that the woman didn't reply to.

The person whom the woman had sent away returned and I finally saw her face. It was a young lady. She looked very focus and walked upright as she came toward us with a molded bowl in her hands. She held it towards the woman and the woman put her hand in it and drew out a smaller bowl with a handle from it. She lifted my head up and put the bowl to my mouth. It was water. It felt good. I wished for some more but she returned it to the young lady.

I wanted to sit up but the woman refused, she held me back down. I wanted to speak but I couldn't, I didn't have the strength. My tongue felt heavy. She noticed that I was trying to speak and she put her fingers on my lips and shook her head. Her warm smile didn't leave her face. I noticed wrinkles at the edges of her eyes as she smiled.

She started speaking to me: words I heard but didn't understand. She spoke for long and then turned to the lady and started speaking to her. The lady nodded. The woman then got up from the bed and finally left the chamber with the man following behind her.

As soon as they left the lady came to sit next to me on the bed and began staring at me, she didn't take her eyes off me. She wore a frown and looked confused. She drew out her hand and touched my hair for a while and then she pinched the skin on my face lightly. She leaned towards me and smelled my skin. She took my hand and played with the skin on my palm. She pushed back my nails. I couldn't do anything, I just felt weak. She said something to me. I opened my mouth to speak again but I couldn't. My throat still felt dry.

As if she could read my mind, she gave me some more water and splashed some on my face. It felt so refreshing.

She then continued to talk. I didn't understand anything.

"Uh..." I attempted to speak again. She jerked her attention at me suddenly.

"Wh... Where... my?"

She frowned and said something which I didn't understand. She looked even more puzzled now.

"Where... mmy?"

She suddenly ran out and came back with the woman behind her. The woman seemed excited and said something to me.

"Whh... Wh... What's... go... going o... on?"

The woman and the lady looked at each other and then back at me.

The woman told the lady... and the lady ran out.

She came back later with the man with the cheater skin band. The man started complaining. I couldn't understand what he was going on about but I could see he was upset by the rough gestures he was making.

When the woman spoke the man exhaled heavily, thought for a while, then replied.

The woman sent the lady out again. This time she took a very long time to return.

I was still trying to say things but the woman didn't stop me. She looked rather worried now.

After a while the lady returned with another person. A young man. He came in with a frown. He was topless. Only then I noticed that the forehead band man was also topless. But this young man did not have a band around his head or arm. He had a lot of hair on his head but it wasn't falling to his shoulders, it was standing straight up. He had eyebrows that touched.

He approached the bed I was laying on and the woman spoke to him. He nodded. Still with his frown, he asked for permission and the woman allowed him to sit on the side of the bed. He looked at me with concern. He said something to me that sounded way different from what I've been hearing from these people. I looked at him blankly. I didn't understand what was going on. None of them were answering my questions and none of them made any sense.

"Wh... What?" I asked him.

He closed his eyes and smiled. And then he grinned and looked up at the woman. He said... and looked back at me. He no longer wore the frown.

"What is your name?" He asked me. He had a funny accent.

I looked at him for a while. I finally understood what he was trying to say but I was more confused.

"What?" I asked him.

"What is your name?" He repeated.

"My name?"

He turned back to the woman who looked eager now.

"My name is Yoké." Yoké said turning back to me, he spoke with gestures. "What is your name?"

"I... I don't un.. understand."

He urged them to give me water.

"Where are you from?" He asked me after the young lady made me drink water from the bowl.

"From?"

"Yes, which country?"

"Uh... I don't know." I replied feeling so hopeless.

"Tell me something about you. Where is your family?"

I didn't know the answers to the questions he was asking me.

"Family?"

"Yes, mother, father, brother?" He told me pinching the space between his eyes. "Can you stop repeating everything I'm saying?"

"Where am I?" I asked him and tried to sit up. He helped me sit up on the bed with my back against the wall. The bed made creaking sounds as I sat up.

"You are in Toko village. This is our village. These..." Yoké pointed to the man and woman who were standing behind him watching. "These are my people. You see, look at our skin. Do you see the colour of my skin? Now, do you see the colour of yours?"

He placed the back of his hand before me and took my hand and placed it next to his. We were not the same colour. His hand was very dark in complexion and mine very light in complexion.

"Where is your people?" He continued to ask me.

"I... I don't know..."

"So you are here alone?" He looked surprised. "Why did you come here?"

"I really don't know..." I told him shaking my head slowly.

He turned to the man and women and started speaking to them what I couldn't understand. Only the woman was replying. After some time he turned back to me again.

"Standing behind me is the chief and chieftess of our village. They are very good people. They will take care of you. They won't be able to understand you because they don't speak English. They only speak Loke and Kwali, our languages. Only I speak English in this whole village. That is why they came to look for me."

I looked at the chief and chieftess. Now it was clear to me why they had on these cheater skin bands.

"By the way, I am a teacher here. The only teacher in this village. I am very popular. The chieftess' name is Furah. She just told me that I should come here again tomorrow too before the sun sets to help the healer understand you."

"Why am I here?" I asked him.

"That's what the chief wants to know. But the people of Toko village found you near the river. You were left to die. We don't know how you got there but you were very hurt. They carried you and brought you to the chief's hut and since then you've been taken care of."

"Really?" I asked him.

"A lot of the villagers claim that they saw you being thrown out of the water by your God, some say that you fell from the sky from one of those big birds that fly by and others say that you just appeared there suddenly."

"Where do you think I came from?"

"I believe that you fell from, what my people call the big bird, or from what me and you both know as an aeroplane."

"Aeroplane?"

"Your skin is very pale, I think you might be sick."

"Yours is very dark..." I told him.

He looked at me for a while and then spoke. "I'm sure that you won't be able to recall anything right now, your falling was really bad. You need some time. At the montant, don't worry you are safe here. I must go now. My time is up."

Yoké stood up and began talking to the man and woman. My stomach suddenly growled with hunger. He then turned back to me.

"Furah said that I should tell you that she is very happy that you have regained consciousness."

"I feel very hungry." I told him placing my hands over my stomach.

"Of cause you should be hungry. Furah told me that you had been unconscious for about 6 nights now. You usually just open your eyes and sleep again. If you had not woken up on the 10th day, they were going to ease your pain and kill you."

I gasped. "Oh my God!"

He laughed. "You should see your face, that reaction is just..."

I didn't find it funny.

"Anyway, I hope you will heal fast. Your wounds look very deep. I should go now, Furah is only paying me 80 corns." He said getting up from the bed. I realized that whenever he was not smiling he looked so serious.

"Where are you going?"

"Where else? To my hut." He responded.

"Where is that?" I asked him.

"I don't stay in this area. My hut is far, by the mountains."

"I don't understand these people, please take me with you to your hut."

He frowned at me. He looked at me as if I had just said something that he did not like.

"What you are saying is very wrong. That is not permitted here. Until I do not marry you, we cannot even be under the same roof alone."

"Then marry me."

He laughed for a long time and then shook his head. Furah urged him to interpret what I had said that was so funny but he just shook his head at her.

"If they heard you say that, they would kill you." He told me, his smile fading away.

"What is it with you people and killing?" I asked him rolling my eyes and crossing my hands over my chest.

"In our village a woman does not pursue a man. If she does she is considered shameless and her head is cut off. But I understand that since you don't even remember your own name, you obviously do not remember what it means to marry someone either. I'm going now."

He spoke to Furah and she went away and disappeared behind a curtain which was in the hut.

"So you are coming again tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Yes." He replied standing with his hands behind his back.

"What is the time now?" I asked him.

"A little before sunset."

I looked at him blankly.

"What?" He asked frowning at me.

Furah came back with a handful of corn. She gestured to him to take the corn. He had a tiny sack hanging from the waist line of his skirt. He removed the sack and opened it up to Furah. She then put the corn into his little sack.

They exchanged short phrases and he left.

The woman Furah came to touch my face and smiled warmly. She sent the lady away and the lady came back with a flat plate with different types of coloured things on it. Along with the things on the plate, there was also boiled corn. They put it on my lap and urged me on but I didn't know what I was supposed to do with those funny looking things. Furah took some water from the bowl and washed her hands and then took some of the stuff on my lap and put it in her mouth and began to chew. I then understand that I had to eat them, they were all food.

I followed the same pattern, took some water and washed my hands and started to eat. The food tasted blunt and a bit sour. I went from one food to the other but they all tasted horrible. I ate for a while and then I just felt everything that I had just consumed come right back up. I suddenly threw up all over the sheets.

That night, I dreamt that I was sitting at some place. But I wasn't free to move around. I was confined to my chair. Something was not letting me move. I don't know where I was, there was darkness all around. I was looking around nervously as if I was scared. My chair then started rattling and shaking. I held on to the handles and shut my eyes. But it wouldn't stop. I started to hear screaming and shouting but I couldn't see the people around me as it was dark. The rattling of my chair got worse and I started to scream too. I was screaming at the tip of my lungs but my screams were muffled.

I couldn't hear my own scream. I started struggling to breath all of a sudden. I was choking. I was suffocating. I felt like I was going to die.

When I opened my eyes Furah was there shaking me in an attempt to wake me from this nightmare. She and the lady looked very frightened. The chief was also there. The lady wiped my face and put a cloth to my forehead. All of a sudden I felt very cold and started to shiver. Furah sent the lady out and she came in later with the same bowl which had water earlier on but it was steaming hot. She put it next to me on the bed and covered me with the bowl under a blanket. It was hot under the blanket with that bowl. And the smell was strong and minty. I felt the smell make its way into my nostrils and sting. I suddenly started sweating. I wanted to come out from the blankets but someone wouldn't let me. I started fighting but they wouldn't let me come out from the blankets. The bowl of hot water spilled on the bed and some spilled over my foot.

I cried out loud but they would still not let me come out. I kept fighting but nothing happened. They kept me there for a few more minutes and then finally removed the blanket.

I didn't feel cold anymore, and I stopped shivering. I started to cry and fan my foot where I had gotten burnt. Furah saw the tipped over bowl and my burnt foot and sent the lady away quickly. Furah started saying something to me with her palms together, she was appologising. The chief just stood one place and continued observing with a condensending look. He kept shaking his head.

The lady came back with some ointment and started applying it to my burn. She was very gentle and kept blowing it as she applied. Furah put her hand on my shoulder and tried to ease me through the whole process. I kept jerking my foot away and crying out.

After it was all finally over, Furah helped me off the bed and the lady removed the sheets and blanket and took them outside. She came back in and put a mat on the floor and they layed me down on it and covered me with another blanket up to my neck. Furah patted my forehead and smiled at me. Then they all left me to sleep. But I didn't. I tried but I couldn't, the thought of my nightmare kept jerking me back awake.

I stayed up until I heard a loud crowing outside. The lady walked into the hut and became busy around the hut. She didn't notice that I wasn't sleeping. She hummed as she cleaned up and straightened things up around the hut. After that she went outside.

I sat up and then tried my best to stand up. I limped around the hut. It was huge and there were carvings everywhere. Carvings of different types of animals and objects all in one dull colour, they were beautiful though. I ran my fingers across a few of the carvings.

There was another curtain in the hut. I peeped behind it and saw a short path way. In the path way there were two more curtains. In the first curtain I heard a loud snoring sound. I figured it must be the chief sleeping. I went to the next curtain and peeped inside but there was nobody in there. Just more carvings and a bed. Does the lady sleep in here? I entered the chamber. I saw an arrow and bow made from bamboo on the bed. I touched the arrow and felt the sharpness of its edge.

All of a sudden I felt a cold wet hand on my shoulder that sent shivers down my spine. I turned around and caught his eyes. His eyes were made of fury and judgment.

He said something that I didn't understand and he looked upset. He was pointing at me wildly and shouting. He suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me back out of the pathway to the main chamber and left me there. He was still shouting. Furah suddenly appeared and asked the chief what was going on. He said... and she came to me and I ran into her arms for refuge. She held me tight and didn't say anything to the chief. After the chief left the hut she stood me in front of her and said something that sounded reassuring. I nodded even though I hadn't understood a word. She took me to the curtain, behind which I had seen light. As soon as I stepped out, I was amazed. It was so busy outside.

I saw many other huts scattered in the area, a lot of children playing around and older women sitting by steaming pots on rocks with fire. Other younger looking women and girls where hanging cloths and materials on strings of line tied apart by long beams. As soon as they all noticed me, they didn't stop staring. Even the small children stopped playing and started to watch me.

The lady that had applied ointment to my burn was also outside, sitting near the hut. I noticed she was busy washing the blankets I had messed when I threw up and when I spilled the mint water. Furah took me to her.

Furah turned me towards herself and put her hands on her chest. "Furah. Fu.. rah. Furah."

"Furah..." I said after her.

Furah nodded and smiled. She then turned me towards the lady and pointed to her. "Gamu... Ga...mu. Gamu."

I smiled because I understood her finally.

"Gamu." I said looking at Gamu.

Both Furah and Gamu nodded looking at me.

Then Furah put her hand on my chest and looked at me with question in her eyes. I understood her question but I did not know the answer to her question. I put my hand over hers and shrugged.

We looked at each other for a while and then Furah burst out laughing, Gamu joined her too. I joined them soon afterwards.

The other villagers were just watching from a distance.

After the laughing was over, Furah looked at me with confidence in her eyes.

She touched my chest again and said: "Rena."

"Rena?"

She nodded, and I smiled. I liked that name. I liked that I also had a name now. Rena.

Furah then told Gamu... and mentioned my name. Gamu nodded and Furah went back inside.

Gamu urged me to follow her as she went to hang the sheets on the line. The other girls sounded ecstatic and kept speaking over each other. They were all speaking to Gamu at the same time but when Gamu spoke they all kept quiet and paid full attention. Gamu kept mentioning my name. They repeated my name several times after she said it. At times they laughed and kept looking at me. A few even came to touch my hair and feel my clothes. That's when I noticed they were all dressed similar. They all had materials wrapped around their chest and a matching one for a skirt. Their bellies and nevels were exposed. Their skirts were short and they were barefeet. Their hair were pitch black and bushy and fell over their shoulders and down their back.

I looked at myself and felt uncomfortable. I realized how dirty I was. I was wearing blue ripped jeans that were more than ripped, they were torn and had holes in them, they had smudges of dirt: black, brown and green, the vest I was wearing was also torn and dirty. I touched my hair and it felt like a mess, my pony tail was halfway gone. I touched my ears and only felt one loop earring. I looked at my exposed arms and they were bruised and red. I kept my head down. The only thing I had in common with these girls is that I was also barefeet.

I wished that Gamu could hurry so that we could finally get back into the hut. To my surprise she even left the sheets she was busy hanging and continued chatting to the girls.

After a while of feeling like disappearing, an old woman came out of a nearby hut and shouted at the young girls. They scurried back to work and some that were not supposed to be there scattered away.

Gamu looked at me and smiled. She then hung the last sheet and we went back to the hut. She fetched three buckets and handed me one and then we went out again. She took me with her, pass the huts and into the forest.

She kept walking and I kept limping after her. She kept talking, I don't know about what. But she seemed happy and carefree. She suddenly halted and so I also stopped behind her.

She turned towards me and put the buckets down. She held her ear and pointed to the trees above us. I understood that she wanted me to listen to something. I put the bucket down and started to listen.

What I heard was beautiful. I heard the squicky little sounds of birds singing and other squicky sounds that must have been monkeys or squirrels. The whistling of the leaves on the tall trees were clear and the sound of the wind was calming. All those sounds mashed with each other: the result was tranqualising. We listened for quite some time and then she smiled at me. She then started to sing and continued to walk. I took my bucket and continued to limp after her. She had a beautiful voice. It was loud and powerful. At one point she stopped again and began dancing to her song. I watched her and laughed at her funny moves.

After we were out of the forest, we reached a very beautiful river. The sun was bouncing on top of the water. It looked magnificent.

We came close to the water and put the buckets down. She urged me to go in the river. She gave me a small cloth and urged me again. I pulled my vest over my head and Gamu started to laugh. I looked at her and she just shook her head and urged me on. I removed my clothes and went into the river to bath. The water was warm. I used the cloth to clean my body and face. I undid my pony tail and dipped my whole head into the river. When I stuck my head out of the water I saw Gamu sitting on the river bank with her legs crossed and examining my bra. I started to swim and float on the water. Gamu stood up to watch me. She looked marveled, like she wanted to join me.

"Come." I called out to her with my hand.

She shook her head.

When I finished I came out and she gave me a bigger cloth to dry myself. After that she gave me a skirt and a material. I didn't knw how to wear the material so she helped me. She stepped back and looked at me. She smiled and reached in one of the buckets and took out something made out of wood and she used that to brush my hair. She brushed it and left it to fall over my shoulders. Now I felt like the other girls. The only difference was my hair was not bushy or black, it was straight and it was blond with a strip of black. After that she stepped back and smiled at me and nodded. I smiled back.

We then took the buckets and went to the other side of the river where the other village girls were. I waited for Gamu to take a bath with the other girls. I watched them play in the water. They splashed water on each other and screamed and laughed. I wished I could join them. But why didn't Gamu let me take a bath here instead?

***

When she was done she took me to the well. The well was in an empty place at the top of a hill. It was built from rocks and went a long way down. I watched her draw out water. She kept talking and I just stood there watching her. We were the only people there. She finished filling up the first bucket and I watched her lower the second bucket in.

"You are already on your feet?" I heard a familiar voice.

I turned around and it was Yoké with another guy next to him. They were dressed similar too. They were topless and wore skirts made from animal skin, but their skirts were not too short like the girls'. Yoké and the guy had strong looking patterns on their belly, arms and legs.

"Hi, Yoké!" I was so happy to see him again.

"You remembered my name?" He asked me with a small smile.

I nodded eagerly.

He walked closer to us and greeted Gamu in their language. Gamu didn't reply, she just lowered her eyes and nodded.

"I have a name now." I told Yoké with excitement.

"Really?" His eyes beamed open. "What's it?"

"Rena."

He looked at me and frowned. "Who gave you that name?"

"Furah. It's beautiful right?"

He nodded with zero enthusiasm. "In that case, Rena meet my best friend Uma. Uma, Rena."

Uma also had hair like Yoké, bushy and upright. He had strong facial features and was much darker than Yoké. His eyebrows were also bushy but did not touch like Yoké's.

"Can you also speak English?" I asked Uma.

He just smiled at me shly and said...

"I'm the only one who can speak English in this village. I told you that." Yoké said leaning against the wall of the well. "And today you look like a true Toko."

I beamed at the compliment. "Just my hair."

He laughed. "Don't worry. One day at a time."

Gamu kept looking towards us and looking away.

Uma didn't stop looking at me and said... to Yoké and Yoké nodded.

"What did Uma say?" I asked.

"He said your skin is very light, too light."

I felt a little bad and looked down at the ground.

Yoké nudged me suddenly. "You see there, on that mountain... You see that?"

"Yeah..." I replied.

He was pointing. Far off in the distance, on a large mountain was flat surface and on the flat surface I could see a small hut.

"That's my hut." He told me, he looked so proud.

"Do you also have carvings of animals in your hut?" I asked him coming to lean against the well too.

"Why would I?" He asked me, completely puzzled.

"There's a lot at Furah's hut."

"I know."

Gamu then said something.

"She said that you should go now. See you before the sun goes down."

"Okay, bye."

Uma did not take his eyes off me. I turned away and watched Gamu lift the one bucket and put it on her head.

"Lady."

I turned back.

"Uma says he wants to feel your hair."

"Okay." I came close to Uma and he suddenly moved back and started laughing.

"Not too close, lady. An older person sees you do that and will take it straight to the elders and then next morning there's a discussion on when to chop your head off."

I quickly backed away. Uma reached out and touched my hair and said...

"He asked why your hair is so soft."

I touched my hair instinctively.

"Can I touch your hair?" I asked Yoké.

"Mine?"

"Yes."

I took a step closer and touched his hair. It was rough and wet. He had a lot of hair. I finally made it to his scalp.

He took a small step away from me, although we were not that close.

"That tickles." He laughed and removed my hand from his hair.

"Your hair is too hard." I told him.

He ran his fingers through my hair. "Well Uma was right, yours is very soft. And why is it this colour?"

"I don't know." I told him.

He then squinted and looked closer. "Actually your hair is two colours."

He didn't look away, he kept running his hands through my hair. "Actually this is really intresting."

I laughed. "I know. It's weird. Everyone keeps looking at me."

"You have no idea."

Gamu carried the other two buckets in each hand and started storming back without me.

"Bye!" I said as they waved at me.

The rest of the way back Gamu didn't talk, or sing, or dance, or smile anymore. She was quiet the whole way back. I limped after her all the way to the hut.